Lebanon volunteer fire department asks DPH to allow billed interfacility patient transfers

Chief Jay Shaw, chief of the Lebanon Volunteer Fire Department, asked the Department of Public Health at a May 7, 2025 hearing to change the department’s Emergency Medical Services status from certification to a license that would permit billed interfacility patient transfers.

Shaw told the hearing the change would let Lebanon transport patients from local hospitals to higher-level facilities when air transport or commercial services are unavailable, and would provide training opportunities and additional revenue for the mostly volunteer department. "We just wanna be able to do what it takes to get the job done," Shaw said during his remarks.

The department’s application is docket number 25-008. Exhibits entered into the record include an application the department says was deemed complete on 03/10/2025, a letter from the Eastern Connecticut EMS Council dated 03/25/2025, and an affidavit from Renee Haloda dated 03/31/2025. Shaw said Lebanon has a population of about 7,000 and described the town as mainly residential with some larger farming operations and newer families moving in.

Shaw described several recent cases in which air transport (LifeStar) or receiving facilities constrained timely transfers. He said LifeStar and other commercial or hospital-based services sometimes cannot transport because of weather or availability; Shaw said in the past 12 months Lebanon experienced three occasions when LifeStar could not fly and the department was denied the opportunity to move a patient. He gave one example of a 10-year-old patient who, after stabilization at a local hospital, could not be transferred by air and Lebanon was unable to complete the ground transfer because the department is at a certification level with DPH and OEMS. He said "the HHC care logistics center requires licensed services to make these transfers."

Shaw said allowing licensed transfers would also let Lebanon move its own residents between facilities and increase call volume for training EMTs. He said the department expects a second ambulance to enter service in July 2025 and that the town currently provides roughly half of the department’s operating funds, with the remainder generated through ambulance billing. Shaw stated the department’s payer mix is about 76% government payments, and that an ability to bill for transfers would help the department’s budget.

In response to questions from the presiding hearing official, Shaw said he could not provide a specific dollar figure for how costs to a patient would differ between an air transfer and a ground transfer by Lebanon but said it would be "significantly less for us to make that transfer as opposed to LifeStar." When asked about commercial services in the area, Shaw named LifeStar, ASM (Manchester), the Willamette Fire Department, American (Ambulance) and Aetna as options used by local hospitals.

The presiding hearing official closed the record and said a written decision would be issued within 45 days. "I will close this hearing for today, and I will issue a written decision within 45 days," the official said.

The record shows this matter was limited to the licensing request; no formal licensing decision was made at the hearing. The department’s application and the entered exhibits remain the basis for the forthcoming written determination by the Department of Public Health.